Pay-as-you-throw bin tax plan is back

Town halls will get powers to introduce pay-as-you-throw bin taxes after all, it has emerged.

The plans were due to be announced by ministers last week but were shelved after pressure from Downing Street.

Instead, they were hidden away in a 145-page report on the Climate Change Bill released yesterday by the environment department Defra. It insisted the new powers would cover only pilot schemes. But Tories said the changes were the thin end of the wedge.

Eric Pickles, the party's local government spokesman, said: 'Despite Gordon Brown's talk of new politics, the Labour Government has been caught red handed reverting back to its old ways of burying bad news.

'Bin taxes will harm the local environment by leading to a surge in fly-tipping and toxic backyard burning.'

Plans to let local authorities charge for bin collections were unveiled in May by the former Environment Secretary David Miliband. He proposed fining homes that failed to recycle enough waste - and giving rebates to 'greener' households.

MPs warned yesterday that Brussels will issue fines of up to £1.8bn over 10 years if councils fail to recycle more of their rubbish.

The Commons public accounts committee accused Defra of having a 'vague' approach to recycling and of failing to give householders proper guidance. The MPs said the EU will levy a charge of £180m a year if Britain fails to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill by a further fivem tons by 2013.

So far, attempts to enforce recycling have reduced landfill by just 2.3m tons over the past three years. Edward Leigh, Tory chairman of the Commons committee, said: 'The department [Defra] must now take the tough decisions and practical steps needed to promote large-scale recycling.'